Improved preservation of phospholipid-rich multilamellar bodies in conventionally embedded mammalian lung tissue--an electron spectroscopic study.

Different conventional methods of tissue processing were studied to determine the extent to which phospholipid-rich multilamellar bodies of pulmonary alveolar epithelial type II cells of the pig were preserved. Prolonged treatment with half-saturated aqueous uranyl acetate yielded excellent results on the stabilization of the multilamellar substructure, irrespective of whether glutaraldehyde-paraformaldehyde or glutaraldehyde-tannic acid was used as a primary fixative. The lamellar periodicities were observed to be 5.5-6.1 nm. Differences in the phosphorus distribution among several types of lipid bodies of alveolar epithelial type II cells were studied by means of electron spectroscopic imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Multilamellar bodies gave phosphorus signals which were significantly higher than those obtained from granular regions of composite bodies, whereas homogeneous bodies gave phosphorus signals which were even lower than those obtained from mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum membranes or ribosomes.